The Monticello Buckaroo football team got back to their winning ways on September 20 in Monticello at the expense of the Monument Valley Cougars, 43-6.

Monticello scored 36 points in the first half to put the game out of reach early and let a lot of younger guys play while trying out a few plays we haven’t seen yet this year, like a fumble-rooski and field goals.

The Buckaroos dominated the stats too, rushing for 380 yards on 25 carries and passing for 155 more yards on 7 of 16 attempts.

Austin Maloy led the rushing parade with 89 yards and two touchdowns on just five carries, while Jake Giles, benefitting from the fumble-rooski, scored a TD and gained 86 yards on just two carries.

Dillon Maughan had 53 yards rushing, all on one play. Hunter Bowring had three carries for 48 yards, Brandon Mussselman had 37 yards on two carries, Cole Eldredge had 29 yards on four carries, McKade Maloy had eight yards and a touchdown on two carries, and Parker Lewis rushed for 22 yards on one carry.

QB McKade Maloy completed six of 11 passes for 145 yards and freshman Talon Black completed one of five passes for 10 yards.

Bowring led in the receiving statistics with four catches for 95 yards and a touchdown. Austin Maloy had one catch good for 27 yards, Nolan Freestone had one pass for 23 yards, and Chandler Draper had one catch for 10 yards. Just for good measure, Austin Maloy was one for two in field goal attempts, connecting from 27 yards.

The defense held Monument Valley to just 19 yards rushing on 22 carries, controlling the line of scrimmage. Sixteen different Buckaroos recorded tackles, led by Cole Eldredge’s three.

Next up for the 2-3 Buckaroos are the Rich Rebels at Rich this Friday and back home the week after, October 4, for homecoming and the final home game of the year (except for a possible home playoff game) against the Altamont Longhorns.

The Bucks won for the 18th time in a row over the Cougars, who have never defeated Monticello, though the two teams battled to a 14-12 Buckaroo win in 1990.

VolleyballThe Lady Buckaroo volleyball team upped their record to 11-4 with a sweep of Navajo Mountain. The big match this week is a home match with San Juan, whom they defeated 2-0 the first weekend of the season in St. George.

Sportshorts erroneously reported that the Bucks lost to Manila last week, which was not the case. The Lady Bucks swept through the Parowan tournament undefeated without losing a set.

Cross CountryMonticello boys won the prestigious Shiprock Invitational cross country meet on September 21 in Shiprock.

Buckaroo coach Jeff Hunt said, “It is amazing to me how well we did, despite how hot it was. I have looked at all the results that I could find and as far as I know, Monticello has never won that meet. It was really fun to watch our kids do that well.”

Buckaroo senior Easton Nielson finished in third place in the 12-team meet, with Tyler Bird 12th, Everett Hatch and Jens Brewer 16th and 17th, Kyler LaRose and Sheldon Black, 20th and 21st and Tanner Eardley 29th.

The San Juan girls were sixth in the girls race, with Monticello right behind in seventh. Bailey Goodwine was the top girls runner, finishing 16th for Monticello. Cambria Welch and Kendal Harris were 22nd and 24th for the Bucks.

Kira Simpson was the top San Juan runner at 32nd. Alexia Stash, Tallie Chamberlain, Alexsis James and Ann Pugh were 37th, 38th, 41st and 43rd respectively.

GolfCraig Leavitt had a Hole in One on the seventh hole at the Hideout on September 20. Craig was using an eight iron. The ace was witnessed by Mike and Cathy Lamb.

The Big YearSportshorts is up to 87 the number of birds identified this year. The Big Year is when a bird watcher attempts to identify as many different birds as possible in a single year.

There are around 800 different kinds of birds in North America. The past month, nine birds have been identified, including a brown headed cowbird, Cedar Waxwing sharp-shinned hawk and snow goose (in Coalville, UT).

I also identified four kinds of ducks: the northern shoveler, eared grebe, blue-winged teal, and green-winged teal, along with a killdeer, at a pond east of Monticello.

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